Rating: Looooooooooooooooooved!Did I finish?: Yes!One-sentence summary: An epic novel following the intertwined lives of the rich and working class from 1914 to 1920.Reading Challenges:Historical Fiction

Do I like the cover?: Love.It. I'm a sucker for eye candy, and this is just lovely, like a still from a film.

I'm reminded of...: Anya Seton, Louisa Young

First line: The dawn came early, tinting a cloudless sky the palest shade of green.

Buy, Borrow, or Avoid?: Borrow or buy.

Why did I get this book?: The cover!

Review: Given the Downton Abbey craze, I was apprehensive about this trilogy: was it any good or just a marketing ploy to cash in while DA is hot?

Thankfully, happily, awesomely, this book is good. Great. Another meaty hist fic that satisfies. This review, however, is probably going to be a hot mess, because how do I describe what is contained in these 500+ pages without just squeeing stupidly? Here goes:

The novel follows a few families and tangential individuals from 1914 through 1920, and at first, the enormous cast was be a bit overwhelming. There are the rich, titled, old money families, the wealthy trade families who are trying to gain their own social standing, the working class, the serving class, and everything in between.

As a result, this book is massive, in size, cast, and scope. Still, I loved every frickin' page. It's the kind of epic book I love to snuggle up with and devour over a weekend, and devour I did -- I was sneaking reads as often as I can. (I recommend not putting this down for any length of time -- given the size of the cast, it could be very easy to forget who is who.)

Opening at the beautiful, bucolic country estate of Abingdon Pryory, the reader basks in the refined dramas of the titled rich -- marriages, love affairs, training house hold staff -- before widening to incorporate a wider lens. As the residents of Abingdon Pryory move to London for the season, we meet the educated tradesmen, American relatives, reporters, and politicians. Then war strikes and everything changes.

Rock's writing style reminded me of the 'classic' historical fiction I love. There's a little romance -- some vague intimations of sex among the younger set -- and a leeetle bit of philosophic ruminations on war and violence. As this was originally written in the late 1970s, Rock has some distance from the era to insert a little sharp and wry commentary and observation. Early on, for example, one of his characters muses about the inequality of marrying American heiress made rich from trade while an Englishwoman with a successful merchant father is completely out of the picture. It's a darkly funny moment and this novel is punctuated with that -- the hypocrisy and beauty of the pre-World War I era.

Rock's characters do change and shift and I liked them, all of them. Some are selfish, some are jerks, some are badly behaved -- but I found all of them to be real and settled in their 'place' -- even as their place shifted as time went on. (Rock conveys that shift so very well -- when one of the titled rich girls seeks out her former maid, now a nurse, their interaction is painful and striking.)

If you like family sagas, this is your book -- while I normally bristle now at sequels, I am bouncing with excitement for the second book. I don't want to leave these people yet.

*** *** ***

GIVEAWAY!

I'm thrilled to offer all three books of The Passing Bells trilogy -- made up of The Passing Bells, Circles of Time, and A Future Arrived -- to one lucky reader!

To enter, fill out this brief form. You'll have a chance to enter each time I review a book in the trilogy. Open to US/CA readers, ends 3/1. For another entry, see my review of Circles of Time and my review of A Future Arrived.

I love, love, love this cover too. I wish I could have that dress. Love your point about the shift in Ivy and Alex's relationship. This book expressed really well the shift from the more ancestral, class-driven mindset to a more modern merit-based ideal.

I think you'll love this then. I've only seen one ep of DA, but knowing how the characters are, I think you'll see their circumstances reflected in this novel. I don't think DA goes into detail about the war -- isn't it set after WWI? -- so in this sense, the book really sets up vividly what that work must have been like.

I am drooling over this series!!!! Your review makes me want to rush to the store. I have the first book on the series but want the whole series before I start so I can just absorb myself in the series.

I really, really want to read this book and now you have just made that urge all the stronger! I am hoping to win the giveaway, but I don't think I can wait to buy them. I am going to have to restrain myself and see what happens. I do so want to read this series! Your review was natural and brilliant. I loved it!!

I loved this book! I'll be posting my review sometime after Feb 1st because I also reviewed it for the Historical Novel Society. And books 2 and 3 just arrived in the mail yesterday, so I'm very very excited.

Rock jumps around a lot -- that'd be my only warning -- so it can be a bit frustrating as he drops major lines to pick another one with someone else -- but it was engrossing and I wanted more and more and more. So excited for the next book.

Wow, great review! I am glad you liked it so much :-) I admit to rolling my eyes a little at the Abingdon Pryory/Downton Abbey name linking but then you said right after that these books were written far earlier than Downton was, so that makes me feel better.

I looooooved this book, too, Audra! I'm so looking forward to read the rest of the trilogy. There were a lot of characters but Rock did a great job fleshing them out. I was happy that he detailed the lives of a handful of them so it wasn't confusing. I was also impressedwith the different story-lines and how well Rock handled them all. The more I read this book, the more I had difficulty putting it down, even for a few minutes!

This is a great review, Audra. The scene you mention: when Alexandria seeks out Ivy about nursing...was wow, amazing. I liked this book far better than Downton Abbey, but I s'pose it's unfait to compare a 10 or 12-hour TV programme to 3 4-500-page books!

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Popular posts from this blog

I love Bloggiesta for reminding me to brush up and take of my blog, and doing it "in community", so to speak, makes this housework a little more fun.

Given my earlier whining about feeling out-of-it with my blog, I'm really excited there's a mini-event this coming weekend in which I can do some backend work here.

My to do list is pretty simple:make a top 10 of 2016 post (even if it is just a list!)review the book I just finished!I'd like to start 2017 without a backlog of reviews, so it feels important I keep up. We'll see if I'll tackle my 2016 backlog. (Perhaps for another Bloggiesta!)

Rating: Liked a great deal. Did I finish?: Yes. One-sentence summary: The life of a 16th century Spanish girl, who rose from poverty to riches following the conquistadors of Chile.Reading Challenges:Historical Fiction

Do I like the cover?: Yes but it's not my favorite among the various editions (the 2006 hardcover is stunning).

I'm reminded of...: Laura Esquivel, Sandra Gulland

First line: I am Inés Suárez, a townswoman of the loyal city of Santiago de Nueva Extremadura in the kingdom of Chile, writing in the year of Our Lord 1580.

Did... I feel a bit uncomfortable with the wholly pro-conquistador plot line?: YES, but the perk of these P.S. editions is the extras. This book includes an NPR interview with Isabel Allende who talks about keeping Inés' voice authentic to the era and having to, essential…

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The 24 in 48 Readathon is this last weekend in January and I'm so looking forward to it. You only (ha, "only") have to read for 24 hours within a 48-hour period, and I'm hoping to scrape out that time, even if it means staying up all night in the living room. I'm so behind on my 2018 reading (basically just dragging my feet through Things Fall Apart) and I'm looking forward to being able to spread out some books around me and start 'em all until something sticks.

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